THIS WEEK'S SCHEDULE
October 22 (Friday)
*Utah State at Fresno State, 7:00 p.m. PT
*Nevada at San Jose State, 7:00 p.m. PT
*Louisiana Tech at Hawai‘i, 7:00 p.m. HT
October 24 (Sunday)
*Nevada at Fresno State, 1:00 p.m. PT
*Utah State at San Jose State, 1:00 p.m. PT
*Idaho at Boise State, 1:00 p.m. MT
*New Mexico State at Hawai‘i, 5:00 p.m. HT
* WAC match
All times local/subject to change
WAC TEAM-BY-TEAM NOTES
Boise State Broncos (6-8-2, 3-1-1 WAC)
Boise State enters the week at 6-8-2 overall and 3-1-1 in WAC play ... the Broncos played two matches on the road last weekend tying Utah State 0-0 then defeated Nevada 2-1 in overtime ... Liz Ruiz was big for Boise State in goal with 13 saves including three late in regulation and two in overtime. Ashley Walsh scored the first goal at Nevada while Erica Parks got the game-winner in the 97th minute ... this week Boise State has one match on the schedule, a Sunday encounter against instate-rival University of Idaho in Boise ... Shannon Saxton continues to lead the Broncos with five goals and four assists on the year.
Fresno State Bulldogs (5-8-2, 1-3-0 WAC)
The Bulldogs split a two-game road trip this past weekend earning a 2-0 win over Louisiana Tech and dropping a 1-0 decision to New Mexico State ... Nicole Duff came off the bench and tied her career-high three points on Sunday ... it is the second time this season she has recorded three points in a match ... she set up the first goal and scored the insurance goal in the 2-0 win over Louisiana Tech ... Kaitlyn Revel and the ‘Dogs defense recorded another shutout over the weekend ... the team has four shutouts on the year ... the Bulldogs return home hosting Utah State on Oct. 22 and Nevada on Oct. 24 in Bulldog Stadium.
Hawai‘i Rainbow Wahine (3-11-2, 1-2-1 WAC)
Hawai‘i stepped out of conference play last week with a single match at Cal State Bakersfield ... UH erased a two-goal deficit before eventually falling in double-overtime to Cal State Bakersfield, 3-2 ... despite the two-goal deficit, the Rainbow Wahine wouldn’t quit ... Skye Shimabukuro put Hawai`i on the board with a goal in the 66th minute ... it was the second straight match the sophomore scored, following her match-winning goal at Fresno State on Sunday ... UH would then force overtime after Chelsea Deptula evened things up with just seven minutes left in regulation ... the overtime marked UH’s second overtime match in its last three road contests.
Idaho Vandals (13-4-0, 4-1-0 WAC)
Idaho went 1-1 last week ... to open play last week, Melissa Canite knocked in a loose ball with 1:23 left to play and the Vandals took a 1-0 victory at Nevada for the team’s sixth-straight win ... Lauren Layton sent in a volley that the diminutive Canite found in the six-yard “danger area” and put away for her second game-winner of the year at 88:37 ... the team then suffered a difficult loss on Sunday by a 2-0 margin at Utah State ... Chelsea Small led Idaho with three shots, all on goal, while Jill Flockhart had two with one on goal ... Liz Boyden made three saves and allowed two goals in 90 minutes of play ... Idaho’s next match will be in one week at Boise State on Oct. 24.
LA Tech Lady Techsters (13-5-0, 3-3-0 WAC)
Louisiana Tech went 1-1 on the week with a 5-4 overtime win over San Jose State and a 2-0 loss to Fresno State ... in the Lady Techsters win over the Spartans, Kiva Gresham recorded her first-career hat trick with her third goal being the game-winner in overtime ... Scotti Culton scored on a penalty kick with 31 seconds on the clock to tie the match after being down 4-2 with 10 minutes to play in regulation ...Tech’s five goals in the match was a new school record for goals in conference play ... the team had just five goals total in conference games last season ... the win was also Tech’s 13th of the season, a school record after recording 12 last season ... LA Tech plays at Hawai’i on Friday.
Nevada Wolf Pack (6-8-2, 1-4-0 WAC)
Nevada went 0-2 last week ... Nevada fell to the Idaho Vandals by a final score of 1-0 Friday before suffering a 2-1 setback to Boise State on Sunday ... against Idaho, the Vandals scored with less than two minutes remaining in the contest to pick up the win ... Nevada then lost 2-1 in overtime to the Boise State Broncos Sunday ... trailing 1-0, Nevada fought back and leveled the contest when Natalie Ratnavira connected from 18 yards out in the 38th minute ... the Pack hit three crossbars in the match, marking the second contest in which it has found iron three or more times ... two shots that rang off posts only to be kept out of the net came within seconds of each other in the first half against BSU.
New Mexico State Aggies (7-7-2, 1-5-0 WAC)
The Aggies earned its first WAC victory of the season with a 2-1 win over Fresno State ... freshman midfielder/forward Dani De La Vina scored in the 10th minute of the contest for her third goal of the season ... after Fresno State tied the match, freshman midfielder Mary Kate Koziol sank a penalty kick in the 84th minute to give the Aggies a 2-1 advantage ... the score was Koziol’s second of the year ... the Aggies concluded the weekend with a 2-1 loss to San Jose State ... after trailing 1-0, sophomore forward Yolanda McMillion tied the match when she headed a ball into the net on a free kick ... she now has a team-high seven goals this season.
San Jose State Spartans (8-6-1, 2-1-1 WAC)
The Spartans drew even this past weekend going down in overtime Friday at Louisiana Tech 5-4 and winning 2-1 at New Mexico State on Sunday ... San Jose State tied a season-high four goals on Friday, the most LA Tech allowed all season ... on Sunday, the Spartans sealed the victory when junior forward Maria Esquivias scored off a Katie Knopp rebound in the 70th minute, knocking her 16th shot of the season and her first goal of the year for the game-winner ... this week, San Jose State hosts Nevada on Friday before welcoming Utah State on Sunday.
Utah State State Aggies (8-4-5, 4-0-1 WAC)
Utah State is now the only undefeated team in conference play with a 4-0-1 WAC record ... in two matches this weekend against Boise State and Idaho, the Aggies were able to shut down the two leading points scorers in conference matches, BSU’s Shannon Saxton and UI’s Chelsea Small ... USU held Small to only three shots on Sunday…the Aggie defense earned its eighth shutout of the season which is only two shy of the Utah State record 10 shutouts that the 2003 team had ... the seven shutouts by junior goalkeeper Molli Merrill is tied for third with Ali Griffin (2007, 2008) for most shutouts in a season.
WAC NOTES
LOUISIANA TECH’S GRESHAM NAMED WAC OFFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Louisiana Tech’s Kiva Gresham has been named Verizon Western Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Week for the week of Oct. 4-10
Gresham, a senior forward from Albuquerque, N.M. (Highland HS), recorded her first career hat trick during Louisiana Tech’s 5-4 overtime win over San Jose State on Friday. Gresham scored on three of her four shots on goal during the match. The senior scored two goals in the second half before putting her third goal in the back of net during the fifth minute of overtime to give the Lady Techsters the dramatic win after trailing 4-2 in the 80th minute of play. The win also marked LA Tech’s 13th win of the season, which is a new school record. Over her two matches on the week, Gresham recorded three goals, six points, six shots and one game-winning goal.
Other offensive nominees included: Boise State sophomore forward Erica Parks … Fresno State senior forward Nicole Duff … Idaho senior midfielder Mel Canite … New Mexico State freshman midfielder Kate Koziol … San Jose State freshman midfielder Kayla Santacruz … Utah State junior forward Shantel Flanary.
UTAH STATE’S MERRILL NAMED WAC DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Utah State’s Molli Merrill has been named Verizon Western Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Week for the week of Oct. 4-10.
Merrill, a junior goalkeeper from Bountiful, Utah (Bountiful HS), led Utah State to shutouts over Idaho (2-0) and Boise State (0-0, 2OT) at home last week. In the Aggies’ tie against Boise State, Merrill played 110 minutes and registered two saves. In the win against then-first place Idaho, Merrill tallied six saves, the most she has recorded in a WAC match this season. The junior has allowed only one goal in five league matches this season and holds a 0.19 goals allowed average in WAC play. Merrill’s seven shutouts this year ties her for third on the Utah State single-season record list.
Other defensive nominees included: Boise State junior goalkeeper Liz Ruiz … Fresno State freshman defender Lauren Lindstrom … Idaho junior goalkeeper Liz Boyden … New Mexico State freshman goalkeeper Erin Wosick.
WEEK NINE HIGHLIGHTS
Both Boise State and Utah State had the top records last week as both teams went 1-0-1. Boise State’s Erica Parks led the Broncos in the win over Nevada, scoring the game-winning goal in the 97th minute. Defensively, Liz Ruiz led BSU Liz Ruiz led Boise State to its 1-0-1 record on the road over the weekend playing every minute of two overtime games, 206:40 minutes. During the pair of matches Ruiz allowed one goal and made 13 saves for a 92.9 save percentage and a 0.44 goals against average. Utah State was led by Shantel Flanary, who scored the only two goals of the week. Molli Merrill led USU on the defensive side of things, not allowing a single goal in a pair of shutouts. Another top individual performance on the week was from San Jose State’s Kayla Santacruz. Santacruz tallied two goals and an assist for five points as San Jose State went 1-1 last week.
2010 WAC TOURNAMENT INFORMATION
The 2010 Western Athletic Conference Soccer Tournament will be held at Lady Techster Soccer Field on the campus of Louisiana Tech in Ruston, La. Tickets may be purchased by calling the Louisiana Tech Ticket Office at (318) 257-3631 or 3632.
2010 NCAA TOURNAMENT OPPONENTS
Excluding last year’s WAC representitive Boise State, WAC teams played in 11 matches against teams that played in the NCAA Tournament last year. Six of the matches were played at WAC home sites. WAC teams combined for a 2-6-3 record in thos matches.
Santa Clara def. San Jose State, 2-1, Aug. 22
Louisiana Tech def. Arkansas-Pine Bluff, 3-1, Sept. 3
California def. Hawai‘i, 8-1, Sept. 5
New Mexico State tied Northern Arizona, 1-1 (2OT), Sept. 5
Utah State ties San Diego State, 1-1 (2OT), Sept. 5
San Diego State def. San Jose State, 2-1, Sept. 10
Washington State def. Hawai‘i, 3-0, Sept. 17
Louisiana Tech def. Murray State, 3-1, Sept. 17
Stanford def. Hawai‘i, 9-0, Sept. 23
UC Santa Barbara ties Fresno State, 0-0 (2OT), Sept. 24
BYU def. Utah State, 3-0, Sept. 25
COLLEGE CUP
The 29th Annual Women’s College Cup will be held Dec. 3 and 5, 2010, in Cary, N.C., at the WakeMed Soccer Park. Last season, the WAC had one team compete in postseason play with Boise State falling in the first round to UCLA. The following is a list of sites and dates for the 2010 NCAA Tournament:
First/Second Rounds (16)
November 12 and 14, 2010
On campus sites TBD
Third Rounds (8)
November 19, 20 or 21, 2010
On campus sites TBD
Quarterfinals (4)
November 26, 27, or 28, 2010
On campus sites TBD
Women’s College Cup
December 3 and 5, 2010
Host: N.C. State University
Cary, N.C.
WakeMed Soccer Park